Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday to tie the record for most qualifying wins by a British driver in Formula One.

Tropical rains delayed the start of qualifying for 50 minutes, but even the wet track at the Sepang International Circuit could not prevent Mercedes continuing the dominance it had shown all weekend as Hamilton made it back-to-back poles to start the new season.

Mercedes drivers set the two fastest times in Saturday’s pre-qualifying practice session at the Formula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix, showing they are the team to beat again for pole position and in Sunday’s race.

Nico Rosberg, who won the season-opener in Australia, led the way with a time of 1 minute, 39.008 seconds at the Sepang International Circuit, a quarter of a second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Takuma Sato placed third and then first, respectively, in the opening two practice sessions at St. Pete. (Photo: Getty Images)

Takuma Sato was third fastest in opening practice in St. Petersburg this morning, then was able to move up two markers during second practice, topping the timing sheets by 0.05 seconds over Graham Rahal. Will Power got the top spot for Chevrolet, again, in third.

Maldonado did only two installation laps in the morning before he was forced to park the car, and a power unit change – including key components such as the V6, the turbo and the motor generator units – meant that he could not run in the afternoon.